(Jordan Times) — Top management personnel representing a wide spectrum of Jordan's IT industry were given a close-up on the best practices on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) as one of the internationally most favored mechanisms for stimulating commitment to long-term employment.
For the IT industry that depends for long-term competitiveness on intrinsic skills, productivity and quality of the workforce, retaining brainpower is of paramount importance.
Sponsored by Int@j and the information technology sector in Jordan, the “Employee Stock Ownership” workshop is the third in a series of 12 technical workshops that come on the heels of REACH 2.0, a review process of the REACH Initiative launched early July.
The workshop was devoted to discussing means of developing employee stock ownership plans in Jordan, placing particular emphasis on the laws and regulations required.
In remarks underlining the purposes such a mechanism serves, Paul Kouris, an AMIR Program consultant and facilitator of the workshop, pointed out that by becoming shareholders, employees' productivity increases not to mention that it cuts down the turnover of employees, which is crucial for the survival of IT companies, in particular. Kouris emphasized that ESOPs accounts for much of the growth witnessed in leading IT companies in the US.
As for the regulatory changes required to facilitate the application of such a mechanism, Kouris stated that “creating the proper legal environment for such a practice requires new tax, securities and labor legislation.” Kouris illustrated much of the pertinent practices by providing an insight to US and British models in this respect.
“Opting for such a mechanism will be seriously considered by the REACH 2.0 Regulatory Framework Strengthening the working team, as the ideal solution for the brain drain of Jordan's IT companies professional which is cited by the REACH Initiative document as one of the major weaknesses of the IT industry in Jordan,” stressed the team leader.
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